[Update: Microsoft's Phil Spencer and Notch have chimed in with their own statements. Spencer is obviously excited (and confirms that Minecon still exists), and Notch gives us a look at his mindset over the past few years, as well as were he's headed.]

The rumors are real -- Mojang has confirmed that they are being bought by Microsoft for a "smooth 2.5 BILLION dollars."

In a post to fans, representatives of the company noted that "Minecraft has grown from a simple game to a project of monumental significance. Though we’re massively proud of what Minecraft has become, it was never Notch’s intention for it to get this big. As you might already know, Notch is the creator of Minecraft and the majority shareholder at Mojang. He’s decided that he doesn’t want the responsibility of owning a company of such global significance. Over the past few years he’s made attempts to work on smaller projects, but the pressure of owning Minecraft became too much for him to handle. The only option was to sell Mojang. He’ll continue to do cool stuff though. Don’t worry about that."

According to the post, the development and support of Minecraft on the PC, PS3, PS4, Vita, iOS, and Android platforms will continue. Minecraft will also "continue to evolve," and it is predicted that the "majority" of Mojang's staff will continue to work there. Notch, Carl, and Jakob, the founders, are leaving. The fate of their other game, Scrolls, is still up in the air -- my guess is if it's doing poorly Microsoft will can it and focus more on Minecraft.

Well, that's interesting. We'll see how this goes, and it's a real testament of how powerful AAA publishers are -- Minecraft was one of the prime examples of how sustainable independent development was in the industry.

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